Bye Bye, Beantown. Hello, Music City.

I’m sitting amongst a pile of boxes tonight, packing up all those last little items that seem to sit around until the last minute of a move. We leave Boston on Thursday morning and head off on our next adventure: Nashville, Tennessee. It has been an unforgettable past few weeks as we’ve tried to squeeze every last ounce of fun out of our hometown before the big move. But it has also been painful and sad and very, very emotional. Every day brings a new set of people to say goodbye to, a new “top ten reasons why we love Boston list,” and a new reason to sit down and cry. We are so unbelievably sad to let this city go…. but also anxious and excited for what’s about to come.

As for that announcement I promised in my last post, I can finally let you know that I’ve signed a deal for my next book project: A seasonally inspired New England cookbook with Chef Jeremy Sewall. Jeremy and I go way, way back to the days before Island Creek, back when he first moved to Boston to open his then-restaurant Great Bay. He now owns Lineage in Brookline, consults as the chef at Eastern Standard, and is partners with Skip Bennett and Garrett Harker at the Island Creek Oyster Bar (where Great Bay once lived). Jeremy and I joke that we’re now “committed for life” with this project and partnership and celebrated, fittingly, with a magnum of champagne and a toast with his staff at ICOB.

I could not think of a more suitable chef and friend to write my first cookbook with and I am so excited for the day when we can finally show it off. The book will be published by Rizzoli in October 2014.

Most importantly, this project will bring me back to Boston often. We have a lot of work to do and food to cook. Jeremy and I work well together electronically but will have plenty of excuses to put our heads together and eat. Which means I’ll be up here as much as I possibly can — and cramming in as many restaurant meals with good friends as time allows.

As for our last few days in the city, they have been, in a word, epic. This past weekend, I had the absolute pleasure of helping to coordinate another Friends For Haiti event, a fundraiser that supports the work of the Island Creek Oysters Foundation. It was a wild and memorable Duxbury weekend, starting with a feast at Jane and Bob Hale’s house and ending with a post-event, late-night session at the Winnie. The event was the best we’ve ever hosted with an outstanding group of guests and plenty of fantastic food.

Last night, our very dear friend Nicole Kanner of All Heart and Eat Your Heart Out fame organized a going away party at the Oyster Bar for us, followed by a rowdy toast with the Publick House team at Dave’s old bar. All told, we consumed way too many drinks, gave several mediocre to terrible speeches, and hugged and cried our hearts out. For Dave and I, it was the perfect end to world-class run.

And now, we really do say goodbye. Or at least, see you soon. Boston: You have been our home and our haven. You have treated us like family and you have nestled your way into our hearts with undying devotion, enthusiasm and loyalty. We met here, built our careers here, started our family here, and we will take the friendships we’ve fostered here wherever we go. Thank you for everything, Boston… Nashville, here we come!